Crowdsourcing strategies to improve access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Australia, the Philippines, and China

Introduction Many Asian countries have yet to scale up HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Innovative strategies to increase PrEP uptake are needed. This study examined the use of crowdsourcing to increase PrEP uptake by describing and analysing the experiences of Australia, the Philippines, and China. Methods Three crowdsourcing open calls were conducted between 2021-2022 in Australia, the Philippines and China. Crowdsourcing has a group of individuals solve all or part of a problem, then share back solutions with the public. All open calls entailed: 1) problem identification; 2) committee formation with local groups; 3) community engagement for idea submission; 4) evaluation of submissions; 5) awarding incentives to finalists; and 6) solution dissemination via web and social media. We examined the number of total and high-quality submissions. We also identified themes across countries. Results The Australia, Philippines, and China teams received 9, 22 and 19 eligible submissions, respectively. A total of three, 10, and eight submissions had a mean score of 6/10 or greater. Three common solutions emerged across all the finalist ideas: enhancing service delivery; optimizing promotional campaigns; person-centered promotional materials. The winning ideas from the Australian, Filipino and Chinese teams were an anonymous online PrEP service, a printed ready-to-wear garment to create awareness about PrEP, and a poster on PrEP effectiveness, respectively. Conclusions Crowdsourcing can be a promising and versatile tool for developing PrEP strategies in Asia. Further evaluations via clinical trials can bridge the gap between idea generation and implementation, thus, creating the empirical evidence pivotal for the policy adoption of these innovations. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement In Australia, this research was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council through an Emerging Leadership Investigator Grant (GNT1193955), and by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, Department of Science and Technology (RGAO-2022-0304) in the Philippines. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the Alfred Hospital Ethics Committee, Melbourne, Australia (project number 266/22). All participants were provided with a participant information sheet and consent implied by the submission of ideas. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes The data supporting this study's findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.